The present invention relates to an interface connector assembly and more particularly to an interface connector assembly having mechanical means to effect interconnecting of a modular interchangeable test adaptor to a receiver for testing of electronic circuitry connected to the interchangeable test adaptor by test equipment connected to the receiver.
Over the past several years, electronic components, such as transistors, diodes, operational amplifiers, capacitors and inductors, have become increasingly smaller. As a result of this miniaturization, it has become convenient to arrange circuits on nonconducting circuit boards. Current levels of miniaturization have resulted in thousands of components existing within a single microchip whereas a circuit board might contain several to several dozen microchips. A problem associated with this miniaturization is a decline in the ability to individually test components for quality control or for suspected failure.
In the past, a technician might apply test leads to an individual component to determine its operational status. However, due to miniaturization, individual components are likely unavailable and even if they were available would be too small for the application of conventional test leads thereto. As a consequence, it became necessary to access components through their electrical leads or "runs" on a circuit board. This often involved injecting a signal at the proper location on the contacts of a circuit board and measuring the output thereof. As miniaturization increased, it became increasingly difficult to apply proper test signals to proper locations on an extensively equipped circuit board.
As a consequence, interface receivers have been developed which provide an interchangeable test adaptor on which can be mounted a circuit board or circuit boards. The interchangeable test adaptor is designed to mate with a receiver, the receiver being wired to various pieces of electronic test equipment. The interchangeable test adaptor can be wired to provide various configurations of signal inputs to the circuit board under test and can be custom made for specialized applications and designed to mate with a standard receiver. When a circuit board is mounted to an interchangeable test adaptor which is in turn mounted to a receiver, various options are open to the operator. The operator can input diagnostic programs or various levels of electrical pulses or signals through either the mounted circuit board connector blocks or through jumper wires attached to both the circuit board and to electrical connectors in the interchangeable test adaptor.
Difficulties soon arose when it became necessary to mount interchangeable test adaptors into receivers which involved several hundred to several thousand connectors. When joining even two electrical connectors, a certain amount of force must necessarily be applied to overcome the natural resistiveness of the connectors being placed in a mating relation. If this force is multiplied by several hundred or several thousand connectors, it becomes difficult if not impossible to manually install an interchangeable test adaptor into a receiver base to insure proper electrical connection of all connectors involved without applying some mechanical advantage.
Mechanical devices have been developed to aid in making the connection of an adaptor to a receiver base. In this regard, typical receivers and interchangeable test adaptors are rectangular in shape. To provide the necessary mating force, it became necessary for those practicing in this art to construct elaborate handle operated gear or cam mechanisms wherein an operator would pull or push a handle on the end of a lever arm which would in turn operate some form of gear or cam drive to force the interchangeable test adaptor into mating relation with the receiver. A typical example of this prior art approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,666 which provides an elaborate hand operated roll cam bar mechanism which, with sufficient force applied, will pull an interchangeable test adaptor into mating relation with a receiver. Disadvantages with this type of mechanism include complicated construction to obtain the mechanical advantage necessary to effect connection and in doing so converting arcuate movement of an operating lever into linear movement of the interchangeable test adaptor. Additionally, the complicated mechanisms require a multiplicity of parts with attendant maintenance and repair problems. Further, the mechanisms require considerable space in addition to the space occupied by the connectors themselves.